Richmond Council has rewritten its housing allocation policy to give priority to locals, ex-service personnel, foster carers, people in work and those making a "significant contribution to society".

I remember way back in the Tory years of 1984 applying to both Basildon and Welwyn Garden City hospitals for a job as nurse....Why did I do that...easy really both councils had/have a policy of giving preferential treatment on their housing lists for Ex-service personnel, Key workers, such as nurses....So this is not really a 'NEW' issue.......Is it?

astradt1 wrote:-They never use the word when talking about changes to employment law.....

I doubt if ‘The Sun’ or ‘The Daily Mail’ will be criticising this attack on the interests of any of their readers who happen to go to work.

The trade union story the papers won’t cover

From 29 July, UK workers who have been unfairly dismissed or discriminated against by their employer, and who seek redress at tribunal, will now be charged £1,200 for taking that claim to hearing. They will have no assurance that if their claim is settled, they will have their money repaid to them. If you’ve just lost your job, who has that sort of money to spare?

Phil Burton-Cartledge writes:-

“Employers will also be able to make ‘offers’ to employees to leave their organisations – without the need for that employer to go through normal dismissal, grievance or performance procedures – through conversations that will later be inadmissible in any future tribunal proceedings.

That is tantamount to giving employers carte blanche to hold ‘car-park conversations’ with anyone they don’t like, pressing them to give up their jobs before they are pushed or dismissed, with the employee having no means of referring to that conversation, or how threatened they felt by it, in any future case. While ‘bad practice’ in the operation of these conversations is supposed to be prohibited, it will, in many instances, be almost impossible for employees to prove that it has taken place.”

This government has already reduced the period of redundancy notice from three months to six weeks and is going out of its way to weaken the rights of workers – that’s why the Tories have such a visceral hatred of trade unions. That’s why one of their donors, Adam Beecroft of Wonga, has suggested that employers should be able to sack employees without even giving a reason. It’s one of the reasons why the rabid right wants to leave the EU (it would be much easier to implement such a move) and I’ve no doubt it would happen if the nightmare of a Tory victory in 2015 should become a reality. 'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists' was written more than a century ago, but the world it describes will be back with us with a vengeance if this evil government isn't thrown out soon.

‘Unite’ has allocated funds so that none of its members will have to pay anything if they wish to take a bullying boss to a tribunal, and other unions are following suit. If you still go to work, you cannot afford not to be in a trade union, however ‘bad’ such organisations are supposed to be if you listen to scumbags like Cameron.

That is absolutely disgusting Ivan, the poor blokes that save so many lives have to pass a fitness test each year until they are old enough to retire at the age the government says they must be ie 60 years old to collect your full and proper pension that they have paid for.They would have been better off opting out of the government one and taking out a private pension scheme, which of course they cannot do poor buggers.Their pension payment will no bloody doubt go up but one doubts that their wages will to cover it.

The poorest still pay the most tax - why aren't the parties promising to help them?

From an article by George Eaton:-

"The richest pay the most tax." This statement routinely appears in news headlines and in comment pieces. Unsurprisingly, the public believe it. In reality, the reverse is true, as a report from the Taxpayers' Alliance reminds us. The bottom 10% of housholds pay 47% of their income in tax, while the top 10% pay just 35%. This disparity reflects the regressive nature of the tax system. The poorest households earn too little (£3,875) to have benefited from the increase in the personal allowance to £10,000 and are hit hardest by VAT and council tax. Only in the case of income tax do the richest pay the most.

While Labour rightly plans to tax both the income rich and the asset rich more (in the form of a 50p income tax rate, a mansion tax, a bankers' bonus tax and curbs on pension tax relief), its tax cut proposals are even less progressive. It has pledged to reintroduce a 10p rate of income tax, a policy that would again benefit the top half most. Rather than reducing income tax (the most progressive tax), it would be fairer of Labour and the Tories to cut VAT (raised to a record 20% by Osborne in 2010) and National Insurance, currently levied on incomes above £7,956. Increasing the threshold for the latter to £10,000 would reduce taxes for 1.2 million workers who earn too little to benefit from an increase in the personal allowance.

It's time to end Thatcher's " free market" nonsence where the so called "competition" is supposed to give us cheaper products and utilities etc. This has replaced the Price Commission that protected us from extortionate price rises and manopolisation.

All this greed and profit being made whilst the min wage stays static and contract employment is rife allowing the bastard Tories to boast unemployment is down. The point is that thousands of people are having to do more than one job for what results in a poor income in any case.The so called "poor taxpayer" that Cameron tries to protect at all costs, mainly for few rich that do actully pay their fair share of taxes and the majority of the rich who pay some but get out of paying the massive differences with overseas off shore accounts.

The taxpayer then has to subsidise low pay by paying workers rent and council tax, which allows the big firms to pay peanuts, therefore it is they who are benefitting all round at the tax payers expense."Fairness" there has been none after Thatcher. Blair and Brown did their best for a decade, where there was much improvement albet again the rich became richer and so did the poor, therefore the divide stayed the same. Now under this lot, the transfer of wealth has been taken from the poor and even the middle classes and given to the rich AGAIN. All achieved on the excuses of the "deficit" and "we are all in it together"

If the public at large are unable to see this and indeed much more, then all I can say is again they will truly get what they deserve for being so bloody weak and thick.

Last edited by Mel on Tue Dec 23, 2014 1:44 pm; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : spelling correction)

How you can manipulate statistics! Tories such as Boris Johnson will remind you that the richest 1% (those who pay the 45p rate) account for 27% of income tax revenue. Up to 160 Tory MPs are reported to be urging Osborne to cut the top rate to 40% on income in excess of £150,000.

By contrast, the ONS has published its annual study of taxes and household income, which shows that the poorest fifth paid 37.8% of their income in tax in 2013/14, compared with 34.8% for the richest fifth. Regressive taxes such as VAT and council tax easily override the effect of the progressive income tax system. Analysis by the Equality Trust found that the poorest 10% of households paid 45% of their income in tax, compared to 34.6% for the richest 10%.

The Tories' pledge to increase the personal allowance to £12,500 by the end of this parliament is spun as a measure to help ‘the poorest’, but the 4.6 million workers who earn too little to pay income tax would gain nothing.